The present invention relates to the carriage of a conveyor for piece goods that includes a lockable transporting tray supported on the carriage frame and a tilting device for tilting the transporting tray.
A carriage of this type is disclosed in European Patent EP-A-0,452,271 (which corresponds to U.S. Pat. 5,092,437). In postal processing centers, railroad stations, airports and printing plants, conveyors with several carriages of this type coupled together have been found to be quite satisfactory. The conveyors are preferably sorting conveyors which may have a length of more than 100 m and, for example, include 200 carriages. The carriages are loaded at intake locations, for example with a postal package that travels, after being transported over a certain path, to a preselected target location where it is discharged by tilting the transporting tray and sliding over chutes and conveyor belts to reach its destination. At the final destination, the tilting of the transporting trays is initiated, for example, by means of pneumatically actuated sliding blocks. In such a sorting conveyor, malfunctions particularly during unloading of the carriages, must be avoided at all costs.